Manchester City 3-2 Bayern Munich: Sergio Aguero the miracle man as striker keeps European dream alive with stunning hat-trick Sergio Aguero scores two late goals to turn defeat in to victory for Manchester City against Bayern Munich The win keeps alive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages Aguero had given City a first-half lead from the penalty spot as Mehdi Benatia was sent off for a professional foul Bayern Munich led at half-time and until the 85th minute after goals from Xabi Alonso and Robert Lewandowski City travel to Roma for their final group game on Wednesday, December 10 knowing a win will seal qualification Sometimes, it doesn’t have to make sense, you know. It just is what it is. By some miracle of mathematics and against all logic, Manchester City are still in Europe. Not just in, but very much contenders to qualify. A scoring draw in Rome could do it. A win almost certainly would, unless CSKA Moscow defeat Bayern Munich away. The Last Chance Saloon that has been City’s local almost since this group began remains open. How, frankly, heaven knows? It is one of those concepts, inexplicable to the layman, like black holes or universal infinity. City were outplayed by 10 men for much of the game, scored two late goals, beat Bayern and are now in reach of the last 16, despite being bottom of the table. Perhaps that nice Dr Brian Cox can explain it. What misery would befall this team without Sergio Aguero though? He has somehow kept this European campaign alive with five goals in as many games. The rest of this expensively assembled squad will not like to hear it, but City are the one-man team of this season. Aguero is every bit as important to them as Luis Suarez was to Liverpool last year or Gareth Bale to Tottenham Hotspur the year before. His hat-trick here is his first in Europe for them, and it needed three horrid mistakes by Bayern Munich to make it happen, but that takes nothing from the scorer. He won a penalty, converted it, and then took two chances, one on one, against arguably the greatest goalkeeper in the world, Manuel Neuer. Munich were at full stretch having been a man down since the 21st minute, but a red card was the correct call and it still required Aguero to stay ice cold under pressure to make those chances count. By the third time of asking, no thermometer was required to read his temperature as he shaped up for the winner. For City, it was also a night of unlikely phenomena, and stars in accord around them. Everything went their way. Even before kick-off, news came through of CSKA Moscow’s last-minute equaliser against Roma, a goal that meant City could not be eliminated, even in defeat. Had there been a winner in that game, City would have needed to beat Bayern Munich or go out; instead they played with that pressure removed. They already had the advantage of the Germans having won the group before the game started — the Moscow draw did that for them, too — and then, in the 21st minute, a double whammy of a penalty and a red card for Munich’s Medhi Benatia stacked the odds further in City’s favour. Having then made hard work of it, conceding two goals and still trailing with five minutes to go, City then benefited from the most unlikely phenomenon — a misplaced pass from Xabi Alonso. Pitch perfect for the rest of the game, a square one ball from the Spaniard was cut out, allowing City’s equaliser. In the last minute, a lapse in control by German World Cup winner and former City defender Jerome Boateng, handed them victory. It is fair to say they got the breaks. Did they deserve them? Hardly. The best that can be said is they never gave up, Aguero and the mighty Frank Lampard in particular. Munich were the better team, particularly as they had 10 men and nothing to play for beyond pride, but that memory will not trouble City greatly if the job is finished in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 06:03:09 +0000